5/6 Defending The State of the Dead "Soul sleep" by Stephen Bohr

A little clip of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Remember they took just a little, just a few seconds. You know, you see the limousine coming around the corner onto Elm Street and it is moving down... And suddenly shots ring out and his head snaps back. And the Secret Service gets up and... You know the rest, you have seen it. Let me ask you: when you watch that little clip of the limo coming around the corner... Is John F. Kennedy alive or is he dead? See, I always get two answers. Alive and dead. And you are both right. Because when you are watching that movie that clip, it was taken while he was alive. But you are watching it after he is dead. Are you with me? That is exactly what happen with God. He has a movie of every single one of us in heaven. And you don't think God has sophisticated technology? Think again. Read what Ellen White has to say in last chapter of Great Controversy way ahead of her time. She says that God will reenact the history of the world in panoramic view. That is better than going to the movie theatre, of course we don't do that. How is God going to reproduce the history of the world without missing one detail unless He has a record of that in a far more sophisticated form than we can ever understand? She even describes, she says Annas and Caiaphas are there, she mentions names of individuals. Nero. She mention spesific names and events starting with the creation of Adam all the way to the end of time. Amazing! All is reproduced with marvelous distinctness. So does God have a record of everything? Yes. And of course we are watching if after the fact but we are watching what took place once upon a time LIVE. Are you all understanding what I am saying? And that is exactly what transpires in the judgment. Now I am going to say something, don't misunderstand me... There is a certain sense in which when we appear before Christ's judgment seat we appear there alive. Even dead people appear there alive. And now you say: 'now wait a minute, you are contradicting yourself'. No I'm not. When did God make the record of Adam that was examined in 1844? While Adam was what? Alive. So when the movie is shown before the heavenly court... Is the movie of Adam while he was alive? So Adam in a certain sense is appearing before the judgment seat of Christ alive. We know that physically he is dead you are not misunderstanding me, are you? We know that physically he is not conscious, there is nothing conscious and praising the Lord up there. It's a record, it's a movie. And what they are doing is that they are reviewing the movie of Adam's life. They are reviewing it after he is dead but the movie was made while he was alive. In that sense, it is that God's people appear before the great judgment seat of Christ. You know, there is another statement of Ellen white in the book Great Controversy, and the last chapter of Great Controversy where she speaks about the resurrection of the wicked. Let me ask you, when Nero resurrects is he still Nero? Yeah? Do you think he remembers everything he did in his life? You think he is as evil as he ever was? How about Alaxander the Great? How about Hitler? Do you know that Ellen White says that they resume the current of their thought exactly where it ceased. So what does God return to the wicked? Not only the breath of life. What does he return to them? He takes the record of their lives with the breath of life, He makes them alive, but they are who they were while they were what? While they were alive. Are you following me? Now let me explain how this process worked... beginning in 1844. Go with me to Revelation 20 and verses 11 to 15. Revelation 20 verses 11 to 15. Here we are going to see how the books are related to the book. Everyone who has ever claimed the name of Jesus Christ, folks, is written in the book of life. Did you know that? Is your name written in the book of life? I pray to God that it is written in the book of life. If we recieve Jesus Christ as our personal saviour our name is written in the book. But then we also have the record of lives in the books. Now let us notice what happens in the Judgment. Revelation 20 verse 11. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;" See, some people say, see dead people stand before God. This is actually describing the millennial judgment. This part is talking about the judgment during the millennium since the dead stand before God. Let me ask you: how do the wicked stand before God during the millennium? Through their records. See that is the only way you can explain how the dead stand before God. They stand before God not personally but through their records. And so it says: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the BOOKS were opened and another BOOK was opened," So here you have books and you have book "which is the book of life" What is found in the book of life? We read several texts? Names. "and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." See, the books have works. "according to their works out of those things which were written in the books" "And the sea..." now this is post millennial. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them" This is the resurrection of the wicked after the millennium. "and they were judged every man according to their works." See, as Adventists we believe in a millennial and post-millennial judgment, don't we? During the thousand years God's people will be in heaven and they will be judging the wicked. After the millennium the wicked will resurrect and they will see the record of their lives. We have both of those contained in these verses. And it says: "and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." And now we are going to see why does God bring the book of life to view after the millennium? It is not to show who is there but to show that the wicked are not there. "And whosoever was NOT found written in the book of life" [NOT found written in the book of life] "was cast into the lake of fire." So you know what God is doing after the millennium? He is showing the wicked their works and He is saying: "in the light of your works your name is not here. Your works show that your name did not deserve to be written here". So God brings out the book, He says "your name is not here." Why not??? "Because of what is written in the books". Are you follow me? Now, let me put it all together. Some of you are probably feeling pretty apprehensive right now. You say, you mean God has a record of everything? How many of you have things you would not want God to return to you? If you should die... How many of you have things that you would not want God to give you back when He gives you your personal self-identity, if you should die? Some of you did not raise your hands. So you just have one thing now... and that is... because evidentially some of you did not raise your hands so you do not feel like you have anything that you would not want to have there. You just have one because you lied... We all have things written in the books that we would have rather not be there. And we do not want those things back. Now, here is what the Seventh-day Adventist view of the sanctuary is very valuable. You see, in the daily service what happened is the sinner confessed his sin and the sin was introduced into the sanctuary through the blood of the victim. Some people say: 'well wait a minute...'